Interviewing Dr. Cole

This week during The independent study and mentorship program, I focused on finding a mentor and researching my final project. I interviewed Dr. Suzanne Cole, a Medical Director of the University Hospital Simmons Cancer Clinic at the UT Southwestern Medical Center at Richardson/Plano. From this interview, I learned how to balance one's creative side and more scientific side, learning how Dr. Cole had double-majored in science and performing arts. Furthermore, this week I researched more into my final works project. I knew that Cell-cell interactions and cell adhesion are key intercessors of cancer progression and facilitate cancer hallmarks, including metastatic dissipation and immune evasion. Many cellular adhesion molecules change in the tumor environment, and significant alterations of glycosylation (change of an organic molecule, particularly a protein, through the addition of a sugar molecule) are seen. These adhesion molecules affect and change tumor cells' ability to interact with other cells or proteins outside of the cell. I plan to incorporate things I learned into a long-term research paper. Throughout this process, I hope to learn way more about adhesion and E-Cadherins as a whole. Alongside this week, I hope to reach back to the person I plan on asking to be my mentor and see what happens from there.